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targetjobs UK

Summer Internship - Town Planner

Hybrid

Liverpool, United kingdom

Internship

03-03-2026

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Skills

Decision-making Research

Job Specifications

See it differently

You see the world through a unique lens and that’s exactly what we need. We embrace how you see things differently – it’s essential for creating a sustainable future.

Arup is a global consultancy with advisory and technical expertise across more than 150 disciplines. We guide, plan and design the future of the built environment. Globally, each year we recruit hundreds of graduates to help us see things differently and solve the most complex challenges facing our clients, climate and communities.

Town Planning sits at the forefront of shaping sustainable, inclusive, resilient and prosperous communities, ensuring that the places we create today can support the needs and aspirations of generations to come. When places are planned well, people are healthier, happier and more prosperous, benefiting from communities that support wellbeing, opportunity and a high quality of life.

Arup shapes development proposals at each stage of the process, our Town Planners play a hands-on role in shaping development and placemaking from the very first idea through to delivery. Our holistic range of services ensures we can support a wide range of public and private sector clients. 

We provide policy and strategic advice, supporting local authorities in preparing Local Plans and their accompanying technical evidence base to shape how places grow and develop over time and to guide development management decision-making. We give strategic advice on development proposals, manage consultation, assess impact, manage applications for planning consent and support applications through decision-making and post-decision processes. We also provide stakeholder engagement, reporting and appeal services.

We also partner with developers, architects and a wide range of built environment professionals to shape development strategies, lead meaningful consultation, assess impacts and manage planning applications through every stage of the decision-making process.

With opportunities to work across both public and private sector projects, you'll gain exposure to some of the most exciting and influential planning challenges in the UK—making a real difference to the communities we help to shape on role in shaping development and placemaking from the very first idea through to delivery.

The Opportunity

Based in our Liverpool Office, during this 6 week Summer Internship you will be working in the Town Planning Team who sit within the Cities, Planning & Design portfolio, with the opportunity to work on projects with some of our 150 town planners across 17 UK offices. We work on some of the most high-profile and complex projects, providing end-to-end support and advice to public authorities, infrastructure developers, property companies and landowners through the planning and policy development process, engaging with communities to deliver more inclusive and sustainable towns and cities. Examples of our recent projects include: delivering the award-winning redevelopment of Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, Greater Manchester Places for Everyone Integrated Assessment, Luton Airport Expansion Development Consent Order and research such as our ‘Cities Alive' research which explores social, technological, economic and political drivers shaping future cities across the globe. 

As a Summer Intern, You Can Expect To Gain Experience Across a Wide Range Of Sectors And Disciplines, Including But Not Limited To The Following

Preparing applications for statutory consents, including under the Town and County Planning Act and the Planning Act (2008).
Providing planning policy advice and developing policy, at both local and national level. 
Undertaking research and developing evidence bases to support Local Plans.
Undertaking Impact Assessments in support of applications.
Digital planning programmes and research.
Supporting in research initiatives such as Arup's Cities Alive series.

 Our town planners work collaboratively with specialists from a wide range of backgrounds, including environmental, design, energy, sustainability, legal, costing, engineering and infrastructure, and transactions to ensure our advice is pragmatic and delivers value. In the Liverpool Office our Town Planners work closely with the Transport Planning team, to develop holistic solutions to city challenges. During your placement on occasion you'll also work to support Transport Planners on projects which have cross-over with Town Planning skill sets.

Is this role right for you?

For this opportunity, we are looking for candidates who hold or are on track to achieve a Bachelor's degree in town planning or related degree (2.1 or above).  

The opportunity is open to Town Planning students in their penultimate year at University or students with a related undergraduate degree, i.e., Geography, who will be going on to study for a Master's degree in Town Planning next year.
This role is ideally suited to candidates who have, or are in the process of, completing a degree

About the Company

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